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Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)

The EU and industry today (6 April) agreed to take a closer look at how electronic identification tags could infringe citizens' privacy by establishing a set of tests to be carried out before the tags are put on the market.

The use of smart tags, with which people can pay road tolls and access office buildings, should receive a boost thanks to a recommendation to be issued by the European Commission today (12 May), EurActiv has learned. The objective is to promote RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tags while protecting consumers' privacy and security.

The European Commission should clarify the application of existing data protection rules to Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technologies to avoid "big social dangers", European Data Protection Supervisor Peter Hustinx told EurActiv in an interview.

European ministers in charge of information technology gathered in southern France yesterday (6 October) to debate privacy and security challenges related to the transition to a 'Web of Things' whereby consumer goods were able to 'talk' to one another.

Minute tags embedded in many different physical devices link up the material world with the information super-highway. Technological obstacles, regulatory issues and privacy concerns must, however, be dealt with before the technology can be implemented to its full potential.

The French EU Presidency will today (6 October) hold a high-level conference dedicated to building the so-called 'Internet of Things'. The meeting comes as the Commission prepares to present measures aimed at overcoming privacy concerns related to the use of the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) microchips that are expected to lead the technological revolution.

With full liberalisation of all the EU's national postal services planned for 2013, the likely increase in the number of operators will make improved traceability of sent items a vital necessity to avoid dysfunctions, the European Commission has underlined, calling for the deployment of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chips to tackle the issue.

The European Union is losing the technological battle for the mass deployment of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) chips, seen as the driver of the creation of an "Internet of things," the Commission warned. It announced it would put forward new legislation "by the end of the year," including new funds to boost the development of this revolutionary technology.